On 16/01/2020 19:52, Bryan Morris wrote:
Problem with trams/trolley busses is they can't overtake each other and
go at the speed of the one in front. With narrow streets they cause
congestion.

We used to have a trolley bus route outside our flat, there was a
junction so the conductor had to get out to pull a chain switching the
poles in a form of overhead points. Quite often then the poles became
detached from the line and then they had to stop again whilst the
conductor pulled a long pole from underneath the bus to fix the overhead
poles to the wires again, with a build up of traffic behind. Then if the
trolley bus broke down they could only travel a few yards on a battery
so again great build up behind (and no room on a narrow road for other
busses to pass without themselves getting detached from the wires.
No trolley busses in Central London as the wires were unsightly.

If roads were wider and straighter OK but London in particular was not
built with trolley busses in mind.

Wasn't a problem! Where routes 667 and 657(?) merged - at Busch Corner,
Isleworth - the drivers used to hold back intentionally so that the
other garage's trolleybus took the strain ALL the way along the Chiswick
High Road!

I guess that the same thing happened with trams - and the habit carried
through to the age of Routemasters UNTIL - in 1971, I think - the bonus
system switched from garage-based to crew-based. In an instant the
drivers were suddenly Stirling Mosses when heading for Busch Corner!

BTW - and this comment is only as good as 50 years memory allows - I
seem to recall that the ex-trolley drivers at FW said that they switched
wires by biasing the trolleys as they approached the bifurcation.

PA